One-way traffic

"Aha~ Sorry, sorry, it seems like I startled everyone a little, but there's really nothing I can do about it."

A young man with white hair, dressed in a robe of the same color, walked over with a wry smile.

This area is now outside the previous forest.

Although it was still inside the forest, it was far away from the location of Enkidu.

But in the end... based on what was said before, that guy definitely isn't the real Enkidu.

"Huh...? We should have been in the middle of a battle just now..."

"Enkidu, the enemy... wait? Confirmed disappeared... gone?"

Fujimaru Ritsuka and Matthew both wore expressions of utter incomprehension.

They were indeed fighting Enkidu just now...

"It's an illusion. Although it's meant to fool a child, there's no other way. Continuing the fight won't seem to be disadvantageous for us, but if he gets serious and summons a horde of monsters or even members of the 'Three Goddess Alliance,' then we'll be in big trouble."

The petite figure draped in black robes still followed the young man; judging from the battle just now, she should be a young girl.

Accelerator and Hatsune Miku were also right next to the two of them.

"Wait...you mean, from the very beginning you possessed the ability to deceive someone of Enkidu's caliber and lead us safely away from there?"

"That's how it is."

"Why didn't you just use that illusion technique from the beginning! With such a powerful move, why save it for last? This isn't a Kamen Rider tokusatsu show where you start with your initial form and have a stalemate with your opponent, only to have to unleash your final form to finish them off at the very end. It's just incredibly stupid no matter how you look at it!!"

The voice that came out from the projection was from Dr. Roman, who seemed very worried about what had just happened.

"That's Enkidu! A legendary hero from Gilgamesh's epic, a being who could rival that Hero King! If he becomes our enemy, even fighting for a second longer would be a matter of life and death!"

"Oh? Is that how you see it? Then it's truly my fault~"

The young man continued with a smile.

"However, there is actually a reason why I didn't use illusion magic from the beginning."

"What?"

"That guy over there, with the same handsome white hair as me... let's just call him White-Haired Guy for now. Anyway, you've all seen the abilities he's displayed, right?"

As he spoke, he pointed to Accelerator, immediately drawing everyone's attention to him.

What is this white-haired kid up to?

“Even the chains of the gods, like the ‘Chains of Heaven,’ can be deflected. Enkidu’s magic and magical power have suffered the same fate. In this situation, while I can't be sure if my illusion will bounce back, well… if it does, that would be terrible. I don't want to experience my own illusion.”

"However, you did succeed in the end, didn't you, sir? Otherwise, none of us would be here in this kind of place."

"Yes, judging from the results, that's definitely the case."

The young man smiled and nodded, but in reality, the outcome was not so simple.

He gave Accelerator a meaningful look, while the first man simply turned his head away.

He had already sensed that the man in front of him was planning to use a teleportation or illusion technique, so he turned off the reflection the moment the other party activated it.

Whether reflection will be effective against his illusionary abilities is entirely unknown.

"And that's only one of the reasons."

"One of the reasons? Do you have any other reasons for not intending to use illusion magic?"

"Yes...it's a very simple reason."

He nodded with a smile as he continued.

"I also want to see just how strong this guy is when facing Enkidu. That's all I'm thinking."

"That's...that's all...?"

"Don't make that face. Look, the result is pretty good, isn't it? This white-haired guy easily defeated that Enkidu. Although he was in disguise, his body seemed to be the real Enkidu, and his strength was exactly the same."

Is that why you're not going to use illusion magic?

Although I have no right to criticize this point, and the other party does indeed possess such formidable abilities, whether or not to use them is ultimately their choice.

But... this reason still surprised them somewhat.

"What a wicked fellow."

"If you say that about me, I'll be heartbroken, Anna-chan."

"Even though Merlin has said this more than a hundred times, I don't see the slightest sign that he's going to die."

"Oh dear... psychological death and physical death are still somewhat different."

The girl in black robes and the young man in white robes began to talk as if they were arguing.

"It seems...you two have a very good relationship?"

"No way, who would be close to Merlin...?"

As Fujimaru Ritsuka said this, she was immediately refuted by the girl in black robes.

--at the same time.

"Wait, wait a minute."

"Don't worry about it, Anna is just being stubborn."

"Wait a minute—!!! What was that name you guys were just talking about?!"

then.

Dr. Roman, far away in Chaldea, was shouting at almost the loudest volume.

"Merlin? You mean that infamous, world-class, utterly useless wizard from the Arthurian legend—Merlin?!"

"...It's fine to praise me, but could you please remove those last two words?"

The young man in white, Merlin, said this with a wry smile to a supporter far away in Chaldea.

"...It seems to be getting more and more complicated."

Standing at the edge of the forest, I did not participate in the discussion.

Accelerator and Hatsune Miku are standing together.

He crossed his arms and leaned against an ancient tree. Despite this posture, Accelerator did not ignore the content of their discussion.

The reason I didn't directly get involved in the discussion was simply because of my own personality—I'm not good at making friends easily.

"But what should we do next?"

Hatsune Miku tilted her head and asked in confusion.

They came to this world not just with the goal of what just happened, but because this world was designed for team battles.

There are two enemy personnel, but their whereabouts, identities, strength, abilities, and objectives are currently unknown.

This world doesn't have the help of as many people as Witte did in the previous team battle. Although in a sense, this kind of battle with only two people fighting each other is more suitable for One-Man Army. He belongs to this type of solo fighter, and the fewer people he fights against, the better.

However, this ultimately resulted in a situation where the speed of intelligence gathering was far slower than the previous team battle.

"So, we still need to leave these people first, and then just the two of us will conduct large-scale observations and gather intelligence in this world?"

"There's no need for that; doing it now would be pointless."

Although he is indeed not good at group operations, sometimes it is still necessary to make a conclusion based on the actual situation.

"Finding those two bastards on the other side would be too easy. We could just create a planet-scale disaster here and those two hiding would show up no matter what. But for us, that would be a completely brainless thing to do."

Moreover, even if it were reasonable to do so, Accelerator would never do it.

To inflict civilization-destroying disasters on unrelated planets and innocent people for one's own purposes is something that even Accelerator during his villainous era would never do.

"Moreover, we can get ready-made intelligence from them, so let's just follow this group for now."

"Hmm...that's true."

After saying that, Accelerator turned his head away as if he didn't care at all.

"What's wrong?"

"It's nothing. I just wanted to get the information out of them as quickly as possible and then leave. Hanging out with these guys is not my style at all."

"Eh...is that really all there is to it?"

"You don't actually think I care about the lives of these idiots, do you? Bullshit, don't make me laugh!"

Seeing Accelerator's extremely displeased expression, Hatsune Miku just smiled and said something.

"I vaguely remember that when you went to rescue those two girls who were surrounded by monsters, your expression didn't look 'indifferent' at all."

"...So what?"

"Hmm~ You said you didn't care about their safety at all, but you still stopped Enkidu from attacking everyone at a critical moment."

Seeing Accelerator's increasingly awkward expression, Hatsune Miku's smile gradually turned into that of a little devil.

"She's always got a sharp tongue but a soft heart; her sulky personality is so adorable~"

"...Stop with the boring nonsense, or do you want me to spank you a hundred times in front of all these guys?"

Now that things have come to this, the first person is certain that Hatsune Miku's initially innocent personality has truly been completely corrupted by someone.

Where on earth did this bastard dog shit come from to have such a twisted sense of humor...?

--------------------------------

"Achoo—!!"

This is still far removed from the world of science and magic, and it's just that one extra character suddenly sneezed.

--------------------------------

It was already night.

Even in this age of gods, Chaldea can still accurately calculate the local time across time and space. It has to be said that their near-future technology is really powerful.

"Um, everyone... how are we going to solve the problem of sleeping tonight?"

What do you mean by that?

Merlin casually replied to Matthew, while she awkwardly took something out.

It looks... like a sleeping bag.

"These are portable sleeping bags that were prepared from Chaldea, but we only have two..."

"It's okay, even if I'm in the wild, I just need a place to sleep."

"The girl in the black robe..." Merlin called Anna, she said softly.

She simply stepped on the tree roots and flew a couple of times before landing directly on a branch of an ancient tree.

"We can sleep right by the campfire without any problem. Besides, it would be terrible if we encountered monsters at night, right? In that case, Yifang and I will sleep here together and help keep watch for everyone."

"Yes, just as this young lady said, everyone has basically arranged their rest. Now that I am a Servant, I don't need to worry about resting too much. You two can just take care of yourselves."

After Hatsune Miku finished speaking, Merlin continued the conversation.

Moreover, as Hatsune Miku said, there is a possibility of being attacked by monsters in the forest at night, so someone still needs to carefully guard this place.

With that, Fujimaru Ritsuka and Matthew were relieved.

"Hmm, then there's no problem."

“You’re right, Romani.”

"Yeah... what a load of rubbish! You may have explained that you are indeed the real Merlin, but what about your purpose in coming here?! You most useless magician, explain it all clearly!"

Merlin is a very famous figure in the Arthurian legend, a legendary magician who served King Arthur and assisted him.

Even without extensive research into history and mythology, even a resident of a scientifically advanced city like Accelerator knows Merlin and the world-renowned name of King Arthur.

According to legend, the magician Merlin, in the distant past, seemed to have entered an ideal land far removed from the mortal world, a garden like paradise—Avalon.

Time and space seemed to be completely separated there; he would not die, nor would he ever face the day of death.

The one who will forever live on in this world, who built a tower to observe the whole world, is none other than Merlin.

According to the Chaldeans, a Servant is a spirit of a hero, a being renowned in mythology and history, who is summoned and commanded by a magician through a ritual.

Merlin, who did not face death, could not possibly become a Servant.